Bertha's Blues

Check out Florida Tech's original Biological Sciences Film featuring Bertha the fish!

The Marine Whiz

Dr. Geoffrey Swain is experienced in oceanography and marine biology materials engineering. He frequently consults fundamentals of offshore engineering with industry, state and federal agencies in the fields of corrosion and biofouling control.

We Stand Out from All Other Colleges that Offer Marine Biology

Your Hands-on experiences, and our marine biology programs, make us one of the best marine biology colleges in Florida

Established in 1971, Florida Tech's undergraduate marine biology degree program made it one of the first marine biology colleges in the United States. Our program has been one of the most popular and highly regarded majors at the university. The marine biology degree is a four-year program with broad training in biological sciences and specialization in marine topics. First year students are engaged in their major right away, with course study, student-faculty research opportunities and hands-on field experiences.

Strong Learning Relationship Between Faculty and Students

All Florida Tech marine biology faculty members hold doctoral degrees in their fields. They teach all lectures and provide close supervision over graduate teaching assistants in the labs. Students benefit from small class sizes within a tight-knit community of scholars and learners in collaboration. In fact, Florida Tech is one of the most popular marine biology colleges because the faculty is so accessible.

For curriculum and career planning, students meet regularly with faculty advisors who typically have only 20 to 30 undergraduate advisees each, staying with them for all four years. This strong working relationship between students and professors gives us an edge over other marine biology colleges and is only one of the many benefits our students enjoy.

Valuable Laboratory & Field Research with Faculty

In terms of resources, Florida Tech easily has most other marine biology colleges beat. Students have the opportunity, and are strongly encouraged, to volunteer in research labs where they work with faculty, graduate students and fellow undergraduates on research projects. Many students also present their research at regional and national professional meetings and some students are published in research journals.

Marine biology colleges need to be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and Florida Tech is no different. Here you have access to the state-of-the-art F. W. Olin Life Sciences Building, a teaching and research laboratory that includes an aquaculture facility, climate change institute and the offices and research labs of several of the marine biology faculty. The newly built 29,000-square-foot Harris Center for Science and Engineering serves the research needs of our aquaculture and fish biology programs; small-scale culture of algae, shellfish and fish species is conducted here. This includes:

Eight teaching labs, 12 modern research labs, a 16-workstation computer facility and an electron microscope suite

Recirculating systems ranging from small glass aquaria to 720-gallon tanks harboring a wide variety of aquatic species

The Vero Beach Marine Laboratory, an off-campus facility on the Atlantic Ocean where large-scale culture is conducted

The Sportfish Research Institute for students who study vital sport fish species like the Atlantic Tarpon

The availability of these resources allows professors to provide every student, starting in the freshman year, hands-on laboratory-research opportunities, making us one of the most attractive marine biology colleges.

Classrooms in the Backyard of Florida Tech

Florida Tech's location on the Space Coast puts it in close proximity to rich marine environments like the Indian River Lagoon and other marine biology colleges simply can't compete. The lagoon is the most diverse estuary in North America and the Atlantic Ocean. Our location in a state with so many miles of coastline provides us with many local, state and national agencies, marine environmental consulting firms, public aquaria, mariculture companies, private marine research organizations and other possibilities for internships and employment. In addition, the Florida Keys and Everglades are just a short trip away.

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